Morrisons supermarket is introducing a 'Quieter Hour', after a successful trial earlier this year.

Quieter Hour will take place every Saturday from 9am - 10am nationwide, and will offer a much calmer store environment with changes such as dimmed store lights, music and radio turned off, no tannoy announcements and checkout beeps and other electrical noises turned down.

The initiative has been created with support from the National Autistic Society, and is designed to help all customers who would benefit from a calmer shopping trip.

Itll take place in all Morrisons store (Image: Cultura RF)

Morrisons carried out the trial earlier this year in three of its stores - Lincoln, Woking and Gainsborough - to find out what improvements can be made and to find a convenient time each week for the ‘Quieter Hour’ to take place.

Through feedback from customers they found that one in five had a family member or friend with autism, with many appreciating the option to shop at that time on a Saturday. Morrisons has also announced that they will work to improve awareness amongst colleagues of the issues autistic customers face in store.

Read More

Daniel Cadey, the from the National Autistic Society said “Around 700,000 people are on the autism spectrum in the UK. This means they see, hear and feel the world differently to other people, often in a more intense way. Morrisons ‘Quieter Hour’ is a step in the right direction for autistic people who find supermarket shopping a real struggle.”

Angela Gray, Morrisons Community Champion at Woking said “I was involved in the initial trial as my son is autistic and we found that these changes made a real difference. The trial showed there is a need for a quieter shopping experience for some customers.”